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I'm just gonna act petrified for no reason!
- Okay, in the book, Harry had been hit by a Petrificus Totalus, but that bit was removed from the movie... so what's the in-universe reason for Harry to just stand there while Draco threatens to kill Dumbledore?
- Dumbledore told him to.
- He didn't think Malfoy had it in him. After that, the rest of the Death Eaters showed up, and fighting would've effectively been suicide. You could kinda see Harry raising his wand and questioning inside himself if he wanted to do it. Also, he trusted Snape, at least a little.
- At first, he probably underestimated the potion's lasting effects and thought the great Dumbledore was in no danger from Draco. After he gets disarmed, he might have reconsidered, but Draco was clearly hesitating and Dumbledore was trying to talk him out of it, and Harry might mess that up if he bursts out of nowhere and attacks Malfoy. When the rest of the Death Eaters arrive, Harry realizes Dumbledore is screwed if he doesn't do something (even though pretty much anything he might try would likely be insufficient to save Dumbledore and would get Harry killed as well, but he is known for having more guts than brains), so he takes out his wand, prepares to attack... and then Snape stops him. He tells him to shut up and goes upstairs. Now, Harry might have his doubts about Snape, but when the guy who you think is a Death Eater has a chance to take you out by surprise and instead warns you to keep quiet and doesn't even mention you to the Death Eater group upstairs, you start thinking maybe you were wrong about him, maybe he has a plan to save Dumbledore, and maybe, just maybe, you really should just shut up and stay quiet for once. Of course, then Snape kills Dumbledore. Harry is too freaking shocked by seeing one of the two greatest wizards of the present day, his friend and headmaster, die, and doesn't react fast enough when the Death Eaters make a fast exit, being forced to catch up to them once his senses have recovered enough for him to seek revenge.
- This makes a lot of sense. Thank you!
- Also, it should be mentioned that Harry had, by verbal contract, given Dumbledore's word that he would do whatever he was asked to do. Just a few minutes before, this deal had included him force-feeding Dumbledore a potion that made him suffer agonizing madness and nearly kill him. The likelihood of Harry having gone for Snape after that seems rather high — I mean, he was worried about his Headmaster in his weakened state, and Dumbledore was adamant about it, so Harry would do whatever needed to be done to try and save him. For all intents and purposes, however, screenplay writer Steve Kloves said in an interview that he wrote that in just to haunt Harry with the fact that he did nothing. Nice.
- You mean, right? :)
- He was hit with a confundus meant for Steve Kloves and thus did not notice that he could move.
- It's a bit of cruel irony that I kind of like. Harry is mistrustful of Snape the whole time, convinced he's a Death Eater, despite Dumbledore's insistence that he trusts him. Harry finally decides to trust Snape, giving Dumbledore his word that he won't intervene and trusts that Snape is on their side. Then he sees Snape kill Dumbledore - when in his mind he had the chance to help and didn't, trusting Dumbledore's judgment.
As if Moody's mad eye wasn't enough!
- Luna uses her magical glasses to detect Harry underneath his invisibility cloak. Her glasses detect whatever those strange, invisible creatures she believes in are called. Does this mean, in movie-verse at least, that all the whacky things Luna and her family believe in are real and true?
- They're called Wrackspurts, BTW.
- Actually, Luna was dead wrong. Her glasses actually detect Midichlorians, not Wrackspurts. Unless, of course, she just calls them Wrackspurts due to not knowing the original name.
- Maybe. Alternatively, they just pick up people or something and the Lovegoods have gotten the idea that it must be little creatures they detect.
- They're shown to be right about one thing. That does not confirm the Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
- You have no proof that Crumple-Horned Snorkacks don't exist!
- My point was that people can be very accurate in one area, yet talk a lot of utter codswallop in others. Look at Fred Hoyle; awesome astronomer, but never really got evolution. In this case, during Xenophilus Lovegood's voyage through Cloudcuckooland, he stumbled upon something that actually, verifiably exists; it seems fair to assume the nonexistence of Snorkacks until non-exploding evidence of their existence can be located (*cough*Erumpenthorn*cough*).
- JK Rowling has stated that Luna eventually learnt that Crumple Horned Snorkacks don't exist.
- Or maybe -- just maybe -- she discovered that they ''did'' but was sworn to secrecy because Snorkacks hide from wizards the same way wizards hide from Muggles?
- Her glasses are supposed to allow her to see invisible things. Harry was invisible because of the cloak, so the glasses allowed her to see him. The only thing this scene tells us is that the glasses work as advertised, and allow the viewer to see invisible things. We have no new evidence that Loony Lovegood's belief in the magical equivalent of cryptids is justified.
- But that makes no sense. Harry's invisibility cloak is THE cloak of invisibility, a Deathly Hallow, and can protect you and others from any but probably the strongest magic. I find it absolutely impossible that her spectrospecs have Voldemort-level powers of revealing and breaking down magical defences. Obviously just an in-movie mistake, but Deathly Hallows had already come out, so it is not excusable.
- Maybe that's just it — the Hallow Cloak beats all other cloaks, and then some otherwise useless nonsense, built out of plastic for ten sickles, beats the Hallow Cloak.
- The scene is question is mostly Rule of Funny. However we have seen that Mad Eye Moody's Eye can see through the cloak, and it can't be that much stronger than enchanted eyewear that also sees through walls.
- I completely forgot that Barty Crouch Jr. saw Harry under the Invisibility Cloak using the eye. What I think this means is that this is another nod to how truly powerful Alastor Moody was, to be able to create something that could see through the cloak, much more so than a nod to how ineffective the cloak was. After all, Moody was one of the top members of the old and new OotP, and caught a lot of Death Eaters, to the point that Dumbledore acknowledged his skill and it took Voldemort himself to finally kill him.
- Um, no. The glasses were advertised to see Wrackspurts, and in the movie, that's what they see. The tiny glowing balls of light are the Wrackspurts. She saw them congregating around Harry's head and used a spell to reveal whatever was there. She never actually saw Harry (glasses or no) until the cloak was off. However, that doesn't explain how the spell she used (I want to say it was a spell designed to reveal magic) affected the cloak, since we're told inDHthat charms and spells don't work on the Hallow.
- The spell was probably Homenum Revelio. It spreads out and causes a 'swooping feeling' when it hits people, even if they're invisible, and presumably indicates those people to the caster somehow, although we don't ever see what it does. It doesn't 'affect the cloak' as much as 'detects people in a way other than sight', which the cloak doesn't protect against. Word of God says that's how Dumbledore knows when people are there under the Cloak early in the series, and Hermione uses it at Grimmauld Place in the last book to make sure it's empty. (Which is why the Death Eaters are majorly stupid in Hogsmeade when they attempt to summon the cloak instead of using that spell, but they're probably idiots overspecialized in offensive magic.)
- For the record, the likelihood of the glasses having the ability to randomly reveal gnat-like creatures fluttering about a person's head (the gnats being a product of the glasses themselves, not reality) seems high. Kind of like the reliability of a lie detector — it can be accurate sometimes, but too sensitive other times to really trust.
- Maybe the glasses and the eye can detect something else, air currents eddying around the body or heat signatures? As far as I can deduce, the cloak did not stop your body from being solid.
- The movies screw everything up.
- It's entirely possible that one aspect of the Cloak's powers as a Deathly Hallow is to conceal itself from overt attention, by not seeming or performing any differently from a standard Invisibility Cloak unless you know it's a Hallow. Nobody seems to have caught on for years that Dumbledore had the Elder Wand even though he made no effort to mask its appearance when casting spells in public, and Voldemort went around with the Resurrection Stone attached to a chunk of his soul without ever noticing he had it. Possibly all three Hallows have the unreported (well, it would be, wouldn't it?) secondary power that you have to already know that's what they are before their full power will be accessible.
The Half-Climax Prince
- So, Harry throws a spell at Snape, one Snape made up, by the way, and Snape, in the movie, at least, just goes, "Yes, I'm the Half-Blood Prince". Okay... the audience is going, "How...?" the fans are going, "There's supposed to be more curiosity, not just a throwaway line at the end!"
- Thing is, that's more or less how it was in the book. Nobody could've known Snape was the Half-Blood Prince without being insanely savvy. There were no clues. Harry tried a bit harder to figure it out in the book, which is true. But did he ever get anywhere with that? Nope.
- Okay, but, even then, it's brought up twice in the movie, not counting the title at all, and, I SWEAR, I heard someone in the theatre at the midnight premiere say, "Who's Draco?" Hand to the sky, it was said. So, it's just a bookend with no clues during the movie.
- Why was it made such a big deal in the book anyway who the Half-Blood Prince was? It seemed to be leading to something epic... and momentous... and fantastically revelatory... and then it was just like, meh. Also, what was Snape's old book doing in that store cupboard anyway? It's not like it belonged to the school and he had to give it back (it was his property after all) and he's hardly the kind of guy that would forget all about one of his books on his best subject, full of his own notes. If he had just lost it, he could have done a simple point me or summoning charm, so, what's the deal? Any ideas?
- It was in that classroom because Slughorn taught Potions in the same dungeon Snape did. Slughorn simply took possession of the place that morning and, clearly, Snape didn't do a good job cleaning up (possibly didn't bother). Personally, I do see Snape as having forgotten about his old textbook; he may be able to do a lot of it from memory by now. As to why Snape was the subtitular character, it was probably to underline the sheer ambiguity of his character and the fact that nobody can tell whether he's a good guy or not. Harry (and thus many of his readers) considers Snape an enemy and the Half-Blood Prince a friend. They're the same person. Hilarity Ensues.
- It did have his own notes in it, but even so, most people don't care all that strongly about their old textbooks. He probably donated it to the school when he graduated and didn't think again about it for years. And, point me? Uh... how would a magical compass help him find his lost textbook?
- Why did he make such a fuss about Harry having that book then? Harry already knew the Sectumsempra spell by then, so what did it matter if he held on to the book? If he donated it to the school, he should have expected a student to have it. And the point me spell points you towards people or things you are looking for, not North South East and West like compasses do.
- Why did he make such a fuss about Harry having the book when Harry already knew Sectumsempra? Fridge Horror: That may have not been the worst thing Harry could have found in the book.
- He doesn't make a fuss about Harry having the book, he asks Harry for the book so he has proof that the spell Sectumsempra was the one that was used. And no, point me does not point you towards people or things you are looking for. It points north. To quote directly from the two relevant sections (emphasis mine):"...the Four-Point spell, a useful discovery of Hermione's which would make his wand point due north, therefore enabling him to check whether he was going in the right direction within the maze''.
"'Point me,' he whispered to his wand, holding it flat in his palm. The wand spun around once and pointed towards his right into solid hedge. That way was north, and he knew that he needed to go north-west for the centre of the maze." - Since it would indeed be an extremely unlikely coincidence otherwise, the obvious answer is that the book was left there intentionally, both as a mean to provide the Trio with the Luck potion (surely Snape and Slughorn discussed the educational program, and Slughorn wouldn't help but brag about his clever idea with the contest), and as a test to see how Harry would deal with such a powerful artefact.
- Ok, my bad, must have been thinking of something else. But I still wonder about the potions book. Harry having the book with the Sectumsempra spell in it is no proof that Harry used it, its circumstantial evidence. Snape doesn't need proof, anyway, he knows fine well that's what was used. (He also could have done a priori incantatem on Harry's wand or legilimens him or give him Veritaserum.) It doesn't matter anyway what spell was used, Harry seriously hurt another student and the only punishment he got was being banned from Quidditch, which Harry even had the audacity to complain about.
- You probably got it from Fanon, which seems to insist that you say "Point Me _____" and it will point you to the object of your choosing. If nothing else, it's used in one of the video games to lead you to your objective.
- ...as his punishment, Harry got a weekly detention every week for the rest of term, including the day of the last Quidditch match, which he was also not permitted to attend. Snape also indicated that the weekly punishment might continue into the following school year (except Harry didn't show up the following year). Also, Snape DID use legilimency on him - Harry tried to close his mind but he couldn't help but have the book rise to the surface, remember? That's when Snape insisted he go retrieve the book.
- McGonagall also chews him out for fifteen minutes in the common room.
- Snape wanted the book because Harry was rocking potions that year and Slughorn wouldn't stop bragging about him. He wanted the book to expose Harry.
- This is all speculation, anyway, because it's never actually resolved how Snape's textbook came to be in the Potions classroom - we see in the earlier books that Luna's belongings are stolen because people consider her so strange and unpopular. It's not out of the question that this same thing occurred to Snape as a student. Another possibility is that he lost it when he was a student, someone found it and returned it to Slughorn, but Snape never thought to look for it there. It seems very unlikely that Snape would have put his own book somewhere for students to use for the very reason that the formulas in it are not what the book is trying to teach; the recipes in the textbooks are meant to teach specific skills to a student, not to find the easiest solution. Snape as a student was just so gifted at his subject that he already knew all the basic skills, and more than enough to find more efficient ways to brew the potions.
- On a related note, it Bugs Me that Harry's Potions class is still using the same textbook that his parents' generation used. A textbook, which the teacher knows for a fact is badly flawed, as he himself had to make substantial corrections to its recipes when he was a student. What, so Hogwarts hasn't updated its potion-making curriculum in the last twenty-odd years? Snape should've been publishing revised and corrected Potions textbooks himself: he'd have made a fortune, and not needed to spout Death Eater dogma to impress the snobs.
- Made worse by the fact that Snape's book was a hand-me-down from his mother. I don't think they update those books ever.
- Uh... guys, why so worried about the age of this book? Much fantasy fiction in general features wizards learning from "Ancient grimoires." Plus, there's another consideration: Slughorn hasn't taught this curriculum in decades since he's been retired. It's plausible (although it would be execrable teaching practice in real life) that when he returned to Hogwarts he also brought a curriculum he's familiar with, including the notes and textbooks he used during his twenty-odd years in the classroom. Teachers recycle lessons and even curriculums all the time. The fact that a teacher dragged out of retirement decided to mail it in with an out of date book he was familiar with rather than spending the time and energy to research an entirely new one is not that implausible... I could introduce you to some of my colleagues at the junior high I taught at two years ago if you want a specific example.
- "although it would be execrable teaching practice in real life" I disagree. There is no point in having new textbooks and curricula for the sake of having new textbooks and curricula, and many subjects (like elementary geometry and Newtonian physics) have not changed at all for centuries, let alone the last few decades. Whether this applies to Potions depends on whether anybody made significant changes to the subject during that time.
- On the other hand, I don't recall Snape ever actually using the textbook — I believe he wrote most of his notes on the board. I figure he assigned the textbook because the Ministry requires some sort of book, but ignored it and taught whatever he wanted.
- The issue is that the Harry Potter universe isn't about some wizards in a tower somewhere pouring over ancient texts searching for forgotten knowledge. It's about a thriving wizarding community that is supposedly coming up with new spells and potions all the time. In a shorter period of time than the textbooks changing the treatment for werewolfism went from "lock them up in a house so their frenzied rampage doesn't kill anyone" to "drink this once a month". Snape, as a student, came up with numerous significant improvements to existing potions, yet he doesn't seem to have told anyone. No one else appears to have made the same discoveries. None of the discoveries that appear to occur in the world outside the school seem to affect what's taught at all.
- Heck, if Snape hadn't been so busy playing triple agent all the time, he could've surely written the next generation of Potions textbooks.
- Guys, you keep forgetting: Snape was established as a repentant DEATH EATER. Yes, he is under Dumbledore's protection, but that only extends so far. Just think about how Fudge regards him in The Prisoner of Azkaban. While he is considered a BRILLIANT potions master, one of the best, he will forever be blacklisted because he's a Death Eater. There was no point in him showing the world his discoveries, as they don't trust it, or rather don't trust him. It's rarely shown how he's regarded outside of Hogwarts.
- I'll point out what someone else here said that seems to have been passed by: we never actually see Snape use this textbook in HIS classes, nor is it on any of the book lists for previous years. Knowing that Snape used that textbook for his FIFTH year and he isn't assigning it to his 5th or younger students as a teacher, it's entirely possible that Snape uses a different textbook for all his classes. They've had standard books they had to buy before then, though he does generally use the board for instructions and the books are more for their essays and independent study.
- It's utterly in character for Snape to knowingly use an out-of-date book, because he thinks that if the students are bright enough to pass his class, then they ought to be damn well bright enough to work out that the book is wrong and how to put it right. Plus, if he had to work it all out himself, why should this bunch of oafs and malcontents get it easy. He seems to be big on making students work things out themselves, teach them how to think critically on their own, and then the rest will follow. Unable to learn to think critically, well then, they deserve to learn the crap. Snape is kinda an Educational Darwinist.
- Another point that Snape may never have used this particular textbook to teach from - it is interesting that Ron also takes a spare book from the cupboard rather than getting a copy from one of his siblings. The twins surely dropped Potions as soon as they could, but from Percy upward, it seems likely enough that one of them continued the study. Yes, Snape is thoroughly unpleasant and has no fondness for the Weasleys, but it would really surprise me if not one of the three eldest continued with potions. Percy was extremely academically motivated, and we're told that Bill is noted for having achieved 12 OWLs as well as being Prefect and Head Boy. If neither of them had a leftover copy of this book, it's possible that Snape never did use this text for his own classes.
- However, Ron (and Harry) didn't know that they were eligible to take NEWT-level Potions until McGonagall was going over their schedules. Since it would take time for Ron to write home and have one of his brother's copies be delivered, he'd still have to borrow the spare from the cupboard for the first class.
- I had always assumed that the teacher assigned the textbooks, seeing as how Lockhart made all of his students buy his "textbooks" in Chamber of Secrets.
- back to the movie, what I find annoying is the fact that it didn't give enough attention to the fact that Sectumsempra came from the Prince's book. You get a blink and you'll miss it cameo and Ron muttering the spell among random plot unrelated stuff while looking at it. I was watching the movie with friends and they were very confused about why Harry had to get rid of the book among other things.
- I still say he could have rewritten the book under an alias, such as, say, The Half Blood Prince and donated his earnings to the Order of the Phoenix's emergency return of Dark Lord fund.
- Consider that the books are meant to teach potions to new students of varying talent. Unlike a potions manual, where you want to really optimize the recipe, for a lesson book, you might want to stick to a less efficient, but safer recipe, with not nearly as much risk of blowing up. Snape was talented enough that he could improve on these example potions on his own, but for his lessons, he focuses on following instructions closely and making students aware of their effects. Slughorn, on the other hand, seems to value free experimentation over adhering to a recipe, so he does not mind when Harry deviates from the book, something that Snape probably wouldn't have allowed, notes or not. As for why the book is there, he might have kept it for reference, as some students are apt to do (I know I do), and he simply forgot to retrieve it or only did it later. Remember that Harry switched the covers. Snape could have retrieved it without noticing the change, and only realized the switch when Harry used his own spell.
- In addition to the above, this is a UK boarding school, where teachers tend to, by tradition, keep their favorite text book near their desk. With Snape's reasons for sticking to the text book given a reasonable hypothesis, one also has to remember that, advancing or not, wizard Britain cares more about preserving ancient tradition than advancement. Even Albus Dumbledoor and Voldemort, two of the most brilliant inventors and two of the most influential men of their day, place high value in the ancient ways. New text books have to convince people such as Dolores Umbridge that they are not merely "innovation for innovation's sake", as she, a representative of the national democratic government so called it.
Burning the Burrow for shits and giggles
- Why did the Death Eaters attack the Burrow when Harry was staying there? What was the objective? Voldy wanted to kill Harry himself, so that couldn't have been it. And the Death Eaters made almost no attempt to subdue him to drag him before Voldy. And then they ran away after only a few minutes. What was the point of that?
- Off-universe explanation: compensate the battle at the ending being cut, and showing the Death Eaters are an omnipresent danger. On-universe... anyone?
- My guess is they just wanted to mess with Harry (even possibly doing so without Voldemort's orders). At this point, they aren't looking to take Harry to Voldemort, because he's trying to sort out the wand problem. That's the same reason why they didn't question Snape's order to leave him behind at the end. So they're attacking to remind Harry (and the Weasleys, who are known blood traitors) that as long as Harry is outside of Hogwarts, he is vulnerable. Nothing like a little fear to make your enemies less dangerous.
- Bellatrix was leading the attack. Since when does she need a reason to do evil things?
- My explanation for why the Death Eaters attacked the Burrow. Bellatrix is a BITCH.
- I don't know about anyone else, but everything about that scene screamed "Friday night after one too many butterbeers." Walk down Southend high street that time of night and you'll see about five dozen Bellas and Fenrises, stealing street signs for the LOL's.
- That actually sounds hilarious. "So, Fenrir, now that we blew up the bar because they kicked us out, what do you want to do now?" "Go fuck around with Potter?" "Okay! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"
- This is my new personal canon.
- I have read somewhere that the actress for that Fleur is not planning to make a comeback in the last movie.
- How is that relevant?
- No actress for Fleur = no wedding scene for Bill in movie seven = no need for the Burrow to still be around.
- No need to fear. Clemence Poesy is set to be in Deathly Hallows.
- Just watched the movie today. The attack did two things; it set the house on fire and it separated some people from the group, making them easier to attack. Maybe their objective was to cause Order casualties. Not only was there a chance that somebody would be seriously wounded or killed by the spells used against the house, but the fire ring with a gap seemed suspiciously like a trap designed to let only a few people out into the grass/wheat/cornstalk/whatever the hell those fields were made of, which was a perfect ambush spot for the Death Eaters. Unfortunately for them, the four people who made it out of the ring managed to beat them off. They might have also done it as a vengeance strike on the Weasley family, several of which are members of the Order. Remember that the Death Eaters are terrorists; terrorizing their enemies by unexpectedly attacking their house and family is right up their alley. That would increase stress on the Weasleys, and if the Death Eaters are really lucky, it would cause them to decide it wasn't worth it to endanger their younger members like that and cause them to abandon the war to avoid being targets.
- YES. I was afraid that I'd have to say this myself, but let me just make it clearer; the Death Eaters are TERRORISTS. Scaring people out of their wits is their freaking modus operandi.
- For the record, did none of them even try the Aguamenti on The Burrow? I suppose I can buy that the spell was a darker magic that water wouldn't work for, but still, better to do something than stand around open-mouthed watching it burn.
- Off-universe: I believe the attack was supposed to create drama, confusion, and of course allow Harry and Ginny more time to bond. On-universe: they do it for the evulz. I have to agree that the scene was hard to take seriously; all I could think was: they're wizards. Surely a normal fire (if it was that) wouldn't be that hard to put out? And if not that, then wouldn't they be able to restore much of or the entire house with magic?
- Additionally, no one tried to put out the fire because it would have ruined the drama of the moment. It's the same reason why there was no battle scene at the end of the film. It would have been distracting.
- About Aguamenti: The Harry Potter wiki brings up the possibility that Bella had used Fiendfyre (it didn't kill her like what happened to Crabbe because Crabbe was incompetent). If that's true, then Aguamenti was explicitly stated not to work and Rowling doesn't elaborate on what else could be used against Fiendfyre.
- Same scene: When Ginny runs off after Harry, she gets nearly cornered by Fenrir. And then she just stands there staring at him until Harry shows up, and she doesn't start attacking until she does. So basically, Ginny can't do anything unless Harry, her man, is around to help her out. Um, anger? Um, confusion? In the books, Ginny wouldn't have hesitated; I hate what they've done with her character in this movie!
- The previews showed her wand getting knocked out of her hand. I can't remember but did they cut that part in the finished film?
- Apparently, not to mention that as soon as Harry shows up, she still has her wand.
- When Remus and Arthur arrive, Ginny can be seen bending down to pick up her wand. So originally Fenrir disarmed her but Harry got there before anything else could happen.
- That scene made no sense at all. At this point, Harry and the burrow are supposed to be protected by all the defensive spells the ministry and the order have to offer. Yet the Death eaters just came by and burned the house. That means that the order and Dumbledore are unskilled morons, and Voldemort is even worse.
- Is it ever said what the protection spells actually do? Perhaps the Ministry's spells weren't effective enough? Perhaps it only protected them from Death Eaters apparating inside it or from spying on them. Maybe the protection was focused on stopping the Death Eaters from getting inside the house. They just never thought to consider that the Death Eaters could attack the outside. If Fiendfyre was used, that's Failed a Spot Check right there. It's rarely used so perhaps there weren't any defences against it, hence why Bellatrix was able to use it. Also note that the Death Eaters attack the perimeter of the house. They don't attack the house itself until later. They're either trying to draw the Weasleys out of the house or trying to trap them in with the fire. And maybe Fiendfyre can penetrate protective enchantments. Maybe the ring of fire was there specifically to weaken the protection so Bellatrix could set the house on fire.
Surrey Doubling?
- Why has the Burrow been transplanted to Iowa?
- They probably figured that would be the last place that Voldemort looked. Who looks in Iowa?
- They wanted a leg up against Star Trek at the box office.
- It's just a back-up. That's why it burns down in this movie, but reappears in the seventh movie.
- The Burrow isn't in Surrey. In the second film Molly says "your sons flew that car to Surrey and back last night" - so presumably it's somewhere else.
- The Burrow is, canonically, on the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, which is supposed to be a village in the county of Devon. Devon contains several thinly-populated farming districts so the terrain is hardly out of place.
Slug Club Oddities: Sirius
- Slughorn definitely had Lily as a student, but he also mentioned in an early scene that he never had Sirius. Lily and Sirius were in the same year and the same house. How could he have had one but not the other?
- He either meant having Sirius in Slytherin (like his brother) or in the Slug Club. He wasn't referring to teaching Potions, and at that point, Harry didn't know what he taught, just that he was retired.
- But Lily wasn't in Slytherin and he didn't complain about that, and since Slughorn picks who's in the Slug Club, it'd be a little odd to complain about someone not being in it.
- Sirius could have simply refused to become involved in the Slug Club for whatever reason.
- The Slug Club reeked of a sort of a fraternity air (a la Skulls and Bones) where the members are all destined to become pillars of the establishment, which probably would not have appealed to the more anarchic and rebellious Sirius.
- Maybe Hogwarts had two potions teachers at the time, and Slughorn only taught the advanced, elective classes?
- He is talking about Sirius not being in Slytherin, like the rest of his family, he was disappointed in that he did not get the whole Black "set" in his house, as it were. He also says that he always said that Lily should have been in his house - "and very cheeky answers I got, too".
Oh, Malfoy, how the tables have turned...
- In the movies, the Gryffindor boys are shown to be sleeping in a luxurious room in comfy four-poster beds with curtains. Here, we see Malfoy (presumably in the Slytherin bedchambers) and he's sleeping on a metal cot in a very bland looking room? I would've thought that the Slytherins had better taste than that?
- If you look carefully, it's actually the sick bay he's sleeping in, presumably still recovering from the Sectumsempra incident.
- In the films the trip to the cave and the Sectumsempra incident happen in the same day. Malfoy is still in the hospital wing.
Let It Snow, Let It Snow
- After Ron breaks up with Lavender, there is a scene in the dining hall in which Ron is very mopey, and Hermione tells him to stop and that he's making it snow. Nothing like this happening before or after this particular incident. Is there actual evidence and precedence for this, or is it just a huge Big-Lipped Alligator Moment?
- Well, there's a definite precedent for wizards accidentally causing magic with their emotions, such as Harry blowing up Aunt Marge. I always assumed Ron making it snow was supposed to be the same kind of thing.
- That's true, but you'd think that if a wizard could control the weather, or at least the ceiling-simulated weather, with their emotions then it would always be pretty crazy. But it seemed like that instance was the only time it occurred. Harry's pretty angsty, he should have changed the weather at least once or twice.
- Well, making it snow in a two-foot-by-two-foot space isn't exactly the same thing as changing the weather.
- the "Ron you're making it snow" scene happens in the book too. But it's either in the common room, or Charms classroom
- Adaptation Decay. The scene in the book has Ron completely distracted from what he's doing by the fact Harry's just told him and Hermione about the Horcruxes, as a result making it snow. Ron breaks up with Lavender at an earlier point in the film, which makes less sense. Why is Ron moping about Lavender anyway?
- Ron's insensitive, but he isn't cruel. He probably feels bad for hurting Lavender's feelings.
- IIRC, it was in the Great Hall, where the ceiling is already enchanted to mimic weather anyway, and he did have his wand directed at the ceiling, so he was probably performing accidental magic due to his emotions.
- I don't think it had anything to do with Ron's emotions in the book. They were doing some kind of practice in class, Ron was distracted by the conversation they were having while he waved his wand absentmindedly, and he made it snow.
Why did they cut so much?
- I can understand in the other films, because a lot of the things missing from those were comparatively minor details that could be figured out with a little thinking, like James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter being the Marauders, but why did they choose to leave so much out of this one? Like most of the memories Dumbledore showed Harry in the book? We get sort of a passing mention of Voldemort's mother with the ring, but the entire point of this story was about Harry learning about the person who became Lord Voldemort - the memory from the orphanage is almost entirely pointless without Merope's story to serve as context, and in taking out everything else, the film completely fails to convey the point of why Voldemort can't feel love or affection, of why Harry even has a chance of beating him, his constant need to feel special, his feelings towards Hogwarts of being his true home, why he's such a wizarding supremacist, where he got a lot of the items he used to make his Horcruxes and why he wanted them...It just doesn't seem right that they wouldn't just film those memories and put them in.
- Because the movies started to overlap the books and they made assumptions based on what they thought would be important over what turned out to be important.
- They were included in an original draft, but David Yates chose to cut them because they affected the flow of the story. They cover for this by having Harry react to the Horcruxes - which serves as additional Foreshadowing that he is one himself.
Using the entire bottle of Felix Felicis?
- Why did Harry drink the entire vial of potion to go and talk to Slughorn? You clearly don't need that much of it in order for it to work for a couple of hours judging by how Ron and Hermione thought only a little bit was put into Ron's drink and that it worked. There is no conceivable reason I can think of for why the writers did this other than to just get the potion out of the way for future events or because they didn't know how to further incorporate it into the script. In the book, Harry only drinks a little bit of it before talking to Slughorn and gives the rest to his friends to help if their fight against the Death Eaters Draco lets in. Since the movie cuts this out, they should've came up with another reason why the potion was gone like he dropped it or something, because otherwise, Harry just looks really stupid for drinking the whole thing.
- Does the movie explain the duration of the potion’s effects like I recall the book doing? Is the size of the bottle described in the book to compare to the amount Harry has in the film? And how would Hermione know exactly how little Harry had (pretended to) give to Ron when she only caught a glimpse of him putting the vial away at first?
Aguamenti and Dumbledore
- We saw in the film that Harry couldn't fill a goblet with Aguamenti, when he tried to get water for Dumbledore. Why didn't Harry just go to Dumbledore, tell him to open wide and magically shoot the water into his mouth?
- Can't say why he didn't try but the no-water enchantment must have been general to the island/cave as whole, not the cup. The cup was conjured by Dumbledore not pre-prepared.
- Plus, maybe he was afraid of Dumbledore choking if he tried shooting water down his throat, especially since he's more than a bit out of sorts due to the potion he just drank.
- I'm pretty sure in the book, he tried that too but then realised he'd have to get water from the lake.
The ring still affects Harry?
- In the film, not only does the ring jump and turn of its own accord when Harry reached for it, but Harry acted like he could sense Voldemort in it, despite the fact that Dumbledore had already disposed of the Horcrux aspect of it about eight months earlier.
